Free Secret of the Oil: Prequel to the Donavan Chronicles by Tom Haase

Saudi?”
    “Yes. I just saw him a few minutes ago. General, you’re aware that Tara must have found out something important for this type of information to come in by phone. She has never been out on an operation before.”
    “I am aware of that,” the general said.
    “Sir, I really want to lead a team for this mission. I have experience in the field and we have one in training that is ready to go.” He waited on the general’s decision. By asking up front for the command and being in the office, he hoped the general might appoint him to head the team.
    “We’ll get that new team we've been training for a year to take this one on. I think it's time to see what they’re made of. I’m going to let Captain Higgins lead the team on this mission, Glenwood. You have been out of the field for a while and would take time to get back up to speed with a new team. This mission will require immediate action. Make sure that Captain Higgins is there for that briefing.”
    The general looked down at his notes, ending the meeting. Glenwood got up, stared intensely at the general, clenched his hands into tight fists and left the office. Damn, but maybe he could change things in time. So much for going home early today, and so much for getting command of the team right now, he thought as he was walking the corridors back to his desk.
    The halls in the Pentagon offered a collage of various flags and insignia plaques from foreign wars in distant lands. The pictures and banners arrayed on the walls portrayed the struggles of the American military from Bunker Hill, to the halls of Montezuma, to the battle of the Marne, to the airborne invasion of Europe, to the battlefields of Viet Nam and the desert war in Iraq. As he walked through these corridors, Glenwood now fully realized that America was in the middle of a new conflict, which promised to be bloody. The country was at war with the Islamic fundamentalists.
    He recalled the message from Tara. The information she sent would certainly initiate a covert operation like none before. This could be a real preemptive strike. Secrecy had to be maintained; a careless word, or slipshod staff work, could spell disaster. He longed to lead the team into combat. He had to prove that he was an equal to the young captain who seemed to be favored by the general. Right now, however, his duty was to get everything coordinated and prepared for the morning meeting. He would bide his time.
    By the following day, Glenwood had fulfilled the general’s instructions. All the requested individuals were present in the conference room, along with the pertinent files, accumulated over the last year in their searches for the network of terrorist cells and organizations in the Middle East. Using his own initiative, Glenwood had all the backup data available, even though the general had not specifically requested it. He wished to impress Forsman. Somehow he planned to get command of this team after he was transferred over to the Center. Things would be different there. There General Bergermeyer would be in charge now that she had assumed command.
    At exactly 0700 hours, the general rapped on the table and, pointing to Glenwood, he said, “Glenwood, you start the briefing and lead it to a point that brings all present up to speed on the latest intelligence.”
    Glenwood walked up to the podium. He switched on the viewgraph and projected a copy of the text on the screen. “Yesterday afternoon we received a message from one of our operators in the Middle East. Here is the content of that message displayed on the screen.”
    FLASH MESSAGE
    Three terror leaders are to meet in Beirut in two weeks at Intercontinental. Planning operation against America called dirty oil.
    EOM.
    End Of Message (EOM) only meant the sender had nothing more to send, thereby eliminating any doubt that additional text was coming or that the message was incomplete.
    “The single most likely hostile leader who could conduct such an operation